Right now were in a transitional phase where drivers are feeling the squeeze and starting to get riled up. Plus the overcrowding is not helping either. So drivers are not only more fatigued from traffic but now feeling at odds with pedestrians because of these modifications. I suspect that this is the reason for the spike. I've lived here my whole life and it's way more crowded than ever. Pedestrians are spilling into the streets and competing with drivers.
The need to push and remove more needless cars. I also want to see more bike lanes. Some of the roads I have seen narrowed have left plenty of room for dedicated or protected bike lanes but they left as unmarked no man's land. I also see some roads and intersections with very questionable redesigns and traffic patterns which force cars and pedestrians to fight. So the city needs to accept that some intersections they have designed arent as safe as they want them to be. One redesign by me has forced a lot of traffic through the local side streets which are major pedestrian routes (school right down the roads with lots of children about) and have not received ANY vision zero attention at all. So they just push the problems from one place to another. The only way to fix the issues is to eliminate cars. Honestly, they need a quota or some other restriction of ownership and driving in NYC.
The WSJ editorial board had an Op-ed about this[0], and tried very hard to make it seem like it was an overreach by the AG and it was vital that ICANN go through with this. I was honestly surprised, they're generally level-headed and while they do side with wall street over main street they don't make fallacious arguments.
[0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/working-the-webs-referees-11588...